Idlib fighting intensifies
Syrian military copter downed killing all crew on board
Al Jazeera News :
A Syrian military helicopter has been shot down in northwest Syria, where an intensifying government offensive to retake the country’s last rebel-held areas has caused a massive wave of displacement.
Syrian state media said the aircraft was hit by a missile at approximately 1:40pm (11:40 GMT) on Friday near the town of Urum al-Kubra in the western countryside of Aleppo. “This led the helicopter to crash, killing all crew on board,” SANA news agency said, without providing any information on who was behind the incident.
The National Liberation Front rebel group claimed responsibility in a statement posted on the Telegram app.
Turkey’s Anadolu news agency also said rebels reported striking the helicopter while it was flying over the west of Aleppo province. The agency said the helicopter took off from an area near the centre of Aleppo city amid “clashes between the opposition and regime forces” and was shot at from the Qibtan al-Jabal region. It was seen crashing, unleashing a plume of smoke, the agency reported. The incident came days after rebels said they had downed another government
helicopter on Tuesday near the town of Nairab. Since December, the Russia-backed Syrian government forces have been pressing ahead with a ferocious assault on the last rebel bastion in the country’s northwest.
The offensive has triggered the largest wave of displacement in the nine-year war, with more than 800,000 people fleeing towards the Turkish border. Turkey, which already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees, says it cannot absorb any more.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Clivegozu on the Turkish side of the border, said aid agencies are struggling to cope with the “huge number” of people displaced by the fighting.
“It’s a very delicate situation and activists are saying it’s already a tragic humanitarian situation,” he said.
The intensified fighting, which saw five Turkish troops killed this week in Syrian government shelling, is the most serious since Ankara, which is supporting certain rebel groups in northwest Syria’s Idlib province, first sent forces to its neighbouring country in 2016.
A Syrian military helicopter has been shot down in northwest Syria, where an intensifying government offensive to retake the country’s last rebel-held areas has caused a massive wave of displacement.
Syrian state media said the aircraft was hit by a missile at approximately 1:40pm (11:40 GMT) on Friday near the town of Urum al-Kubra in the western countryside of Aleppo. “This led the helicopter to crash, killing all crew on board,” SANA news agency said, without providing any information on who was behind the incident.
The National Liberation Front rebel group claimed responsibility in a statement posted on the Telegram app.
Turkey’s Anadolu news agency also said rebels reported striking the helicopter while it was flying over the west of Aleppo province. The agency said the helicopter took off from an area near the centre of Aleppo city amid “clashes between the opposition and regime forces” and was shot at from the Qibtan al-Jabal region. It was seen crashing, unleashing a plume of smoke, the agency reported. The incident came days after rebels said they had downed another government
helicopter on Tuesday near the town of Nairab. Since December, the Russia-backed Syrian government forces have been pressing ahead with a ferocious assault on the last rebel bastion in the country’s northwest.
The offensive has triggered the largest wave of displacement in the nine-year war, with more than 800,000 people fleeing towards the Turkish border. Turkey, which already hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees, says it cannot absorb any more.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Clivegozu on the Turkish side of the border, said aid agencies are struggling to cope with the “huge number” of people displaced by the fighting.
“It’s a very delicate situation and activists are saying it’s already a tragic humanitarian situation,” he said.
The intensified fighting, which saw five Turkish troops killed this week in Syrian government shelling, is the most serious since Ankara, which is supporting certain rebel groups in northwest Syria’s Idlib province, first sent forces to its neighbouring country in 2016.
